Monday, October 25, 2010

I have to tell ya' - having the weekend off after a pretty long haul of working sure was a good way to charge the ol' NiCad's. Heck, LaDawn and I even got a chance to fit a movie in over the weekend.

Fall around the Midwestern parts of the country have been beautiful. It has been just amazing sitting on the deck, breathing the fresh air, and enjoying the fall breezes while sipping on an adult beverage ;~)

Anyway, today is Monday and it's time to get back to work - and a pretty busy week it is. Today we play "catch up" around the studio, pack up and head to Columbus, OH for tomorrow's CBTL2010 tour presentation.

Then it's back to Cincy on Wednesday for my brand new Rocket Speed Digital Design Webcast [link]. LaDawn, who is truly our LumaPix:FotoFusion guru, will be co-presenting with me.

We worked on the program a bit yesterday and it's shaping up to be the best 2 hours ever on the greatest design software on the planet. Like I said Friday, I'm going to show you some money-making things you never even thought you could do with LumaPix during the webcast. Yes, you can still register right here.

The rest of the week is quite busy with a BIG Bat Mitzvah coming up next weekend. Then it's off to California for the wrap up of the tour - I can't believe it's almost over, and just in time for the holiday rush.

Hey gang, that's this week's quick prevue and since it's going to be a busy one, let's get right to today's post. Here we go...

New Ansel Adams Book Hits The Shelves

I've always been a big fan of Ansel Adams and have several of his books. Ansel is the photographer that has inspired me for my scenic's and landscapes. I'll keep trying to aspire to his level of excellence. Anyway, in my leisurely weekend cruise of some of my favorite sites, I saw that blogging buddy, Jim Goldstein, had a book review of the latest Ansel Adams collection of images entitled, "Ansel Adams In The National Parks” [link].

Here is an excerpt:

"Ansel Adams In The National Parks” excels in that Andrea G. Stillman, the books’ editor, has pulled not just amazing photographs from the Adam’s archive, but also his writing & correspondence that breath life into an otherwise historical photo anthology.

I guess what I'm picking up here in his review is that we get a peak at what Mr. Adams was thinking as he created his wonderful images with his own notes accompanying many of the images. I've been an Ansel Adams fans for years, and even talked with him on the phone once - for real. I'm heading to Amazon to order the book. Here is the link to Jim's entire review.

Just When You Thought You Were Running Out Of Storage Space

Western Digital just introduced their brand new 3 terabyte hard drive - cost, only $269! [link] I still remember when I bought my first 1T drive for $700. It sounds like a "ton" of storage, but it also sounds like it takes a lot more time to backup too.

You know, in our digital world, things continue to get cheaper, faster, and better and that's a good thing. I would just hate to face that one mighty crash. What I would like to see is a faster, easier way to back up 50 gigs of raw file image data from a wedding shoot inexpensively on Blu-Ray DVD's.

Delkin offers archival Blu-Ray disks at about $25 a pop or $20 bucks at B&H [link] - to expensive for me. But, I did see that Panasonic just announced archival discs to be shipping by the 3rd quarter of this year [link]. No price announced yet (maybe $10 ea.) - let's wait and see.

And Speaking Of RAW Files

One of our DPT readers pointed me to this very thorough discussion of how to best shoot RAW files over at Ron Day’s blog [link]. The discussion on exposure was especially illuminating. It's a "geek" read but well worth the time to get your best results when shooting RAW. Enjoy!

Cool Lightroom Features, Freebies, and More

Don't you just love to take a weekend Internet cruise now and then? I like to think of it as a "Duck Tour" for the brain;~). Anyway, this week's foray into the cyberspace yielded some pretty cool Lightroom finds.

Here is the quick list:

Animoto Now Does Lightroom!

That's right, select your images from within Lightroom 3 and send them on their way to Animoto.com. I'm a BIG fan of Animoto and Lightroom so I'm thrilled to see this new integration. It's just one more easy way to sizzle your client's experience for you and your studio. Here is the link to the announcement and the plug-in.

Adding Edges To Your Images In Lightroom

Here is another little tutorial gem I stumbled on over the weekend. I found it at TipSquirrel.com [link] - a nice little Lightroom/Photoshop resource for digital photographers. Anyway, this tutorial - here is the link - shows a clever way to use the Identity Plate in Lightroom to add edges to an image. Heck, the author even points you the free edges he uses - pretty cool idea.

Lightroom Freebies

That's right, more Lightroom freebie presets that you can fit into tour hands! OnOne Software has lots of cool stuff over at their site, but some of the coolest are the links to all the FREE presets they have made available to you and me! [link]

Adobe Guru, Jack Davis, is the brains behind many of the 190 of the Lightroom presets. I have to say, they do look pretty cool. Wait, there's more - explore OnOne's site and you will find 196 more free downloads including edges, Adobe RAW plug-ins, and more. Here is the link again. I think, I've died and gone to Lightroom heaven ;~). Have fun.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. In a few hours, we are packing our bags and heading north to Columbus, OH. We are catching up with our friends, Kent and Sarah Smith, this evening. Then tomorrow it presentation #17 of CBTL2010 tour. We are expecting another large crowd of over 200 strong so I hope to see you there. Please come up and say HI.

Can't make it, then still plan to stop by DPT for a brand new Technique Tuesday: The Other Side Of David Ziser. There, that should keep you guessing a bit ;~) It will fun, I promise.

Links

About

David Ziser, an internationally renowned portrait and wedding photographer, has shared his knowledge with ten’s-of-thousands of photographers, in 5 languages, and in 14 countries worldwide.
Studio Photograph magazine has extolled..."Award winning photographer, David Ziser, is showing the world how to take wedding pictures." His "Digital WakeUp Call tour was acclaimed as one of the "best ever" seminars on digital photography.